


your love fixes wars

by delectum



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Eavesdropping, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Obligatory post season hospital fic, POV Outsider, Post-season 7, With A Twist, brief unrequited jeith, but it's for the sake of narration so it's ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 09:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15905715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delectum/pseuds/delectum
Summary: A love story, as told from the perspective of the Garrison team of medics.Abruptly, the quiet of the med ward is ruined as the doors are forced open, and the retrieval team bursts in.They’re- covered in blood.A silver haired man is guided through the doors. He has a bloody form cradled in his arms, his knuckles white from the strength of his hold. There’s tears in his eyes as he pushes forward, his voice broken when he pleads, “Help him,please-“He doesn’t have to ask.





	1. Chapter 1

The infirmary is already overrun when they bring the paladins in. 

The war was taxing on everyone, but the final battle has brought in more injured people than the past two years combined. The casualties were high and the number of people hurt even higher. 

They’re running thin on supplies and staff, as food and ammunition had been the main priority for the retrieval teams and more easily attainable. 

Claire was run ragged, having been working all week, but the news that the Galran invaders had finally been defeated brings her new hope. Suddenly, there is more to their future than enslavement and labor under an alien empire. 

The high spirits drop abruptly when they hear of the paladins. 

It’s not well known news. Only the people who had witnessed the event firsthand were informed of it, and the Garrison had been sure to keep the news contained to reduce any chances of inciting panic amongst the masses.

The rumor comes to them from the higher ups that the paladins, after a bold uprising that mobilized the famed IGF- Atlas, defeated the Galra once and for all.

But freedom comes at the cost of their own well-being. 

Claire hadn’t had a chance to meet any of the paladins personally since they had returned home, but she can remember Cadet Kogane from his time at the Garrison. He had visited her enough in the infirmary, with bloodied knuckles from when he had forgotten to wrap his hands in PT, or with suspicious cuts and bruises that he would remain stubbornly tight lipped about. 

He had never talked much, but he was always polite and respectful to the nurses who treated him. He was a small, quiet thing, but his presence burned like a wildfire, even long after he had left the Garrison. 

Almost five years have passed since then, but Claire still remembers him like it was yesterday. 

It’s certainly different, seeing these bright heroes fall and only knowing them through the title of ‘paladin’, and watching them plummet to earth's surface when you had personally known them as cadets. 

From the infirmary windows, she can see the bright streaks of rainbow from the falling lions and they look just like a shooting star. The analogy, however, is tainted with thoughts of whether anyone could possibly survive a fall at that velocity, let alone come out uninjured. 

Claire and the rest of the med team can do nothing but wait in a mounting mixture of morbid anticipation and dawning terror, ready to assist at a moments notice the moment that the injured paladins are brought in. 

From his position at the nurses station, Malik stands by the radio, awaiting any news. It’s chatter is filled with static and desperate orders as the retrieval teams scramble to recover the pilots of Voltron. 

They hear only one side of the desperate attempts, vague phrases of “-completely submerged-“ and “-landed not that far into the desert-“ and “Captain Shirogane, _we’ll find him_.”

It’s a tense wait, as the nurses stand ready at the doors trading wide eyed and wary looks with each other, clutching the rails of the stretchers they’ve brought out.

There’s tension in the air and they feel as if a single wrong move could cause this thick rigidity to snap. 

It’s not long of a wait. 

The yellow paladin is the first to be brought in. His lion had landed close enough that all of them had felt the tremors of the mighty ship when it had impacted. The retrieval team, despite being haphazardly put together, were able to move in immediately. 

“Male, late teens, head trauma, broken ribs,” The medic who had volunteered for emergency response calls out as they wheeled the paladin in.

The patient’s skin is pallid and clammy, his hair matted with dark blood, and Malik hurries forward to quickly changed the rapidly darkening bandage the medic had placed there in an attempt to stop the bleeding. 

“The laceration is bleeding too much, we need to stitch it now,” he says as they wheel him into the makeshift trauma center. 

Graham, the medic from the retrieval team, hangs back in the doorway. “I need to get back out there. They should be bringing the red paladin in soon. They also found the Black lion but they can’t get to the pilot so they sent a team out. Will you be okay here?” 

Claire nods, “We’ll be fine. Go, they need you more right now.”

With a harried wish for luck, Graham is gone. 

Claire turns back to the yellow paladin, feeling against his rib cage for any breaks or fractures. 

Two of his ribs are cracked and once they secure the stitches with a knot and splint the broken bones, they call for another nurse to transfer the paladin to a private room in the second floor wing. 

Being heroes of Earth would be sure to get the paladins all types of bad publicity that would be stressful for healing. 

Claire wipes down and sterilizes the area, changing her gloves and washing her hands while Malik prepares another stretcher for the red paladin. 

 

The second paladin- although he’s wearing blue, not red- comes in not much later, but his injuries are minimal aside from a broken leg. Bruised and exhausted, he’s sent to the second floor without much fanfare.

His family rushes to the hospital as soon as the news reaches them, going up to visit him and piling into the elevator until it's packed to the brim. 

The quiet that lingers after they leave is eerie in the darkened corridors.

There’s a long stretch of time where Malik leaves to attend to the other patients and Claire stays behind with the radio close by, waiting for any news of the other paladins. 

An hour passes, then two.

Finally, the radio crackles with static as they're informed about their newest patient coming in soon.

The third paladin enters with both her parents in tow. 

They’re not a disturbance so they’re allowed to stay while their daughter is checked over for injuries by one of the medical assistants, Evie. There are none, fortunately, apart from some bruises and scratches. 

The woman (Colleen?) holds onto the green paladins hand as she’s brought upstairs with the rest of her teammates, Commander Holt right by their side. 

Two more people enter the room as the paladin is rolled out, but they’re not visibly bruised or bloodied.

Visitors, then. 

“My son, Hunk, is he here?” The man comes to her and asks frantically, her wife too teary to add any input to the conversation. 

Hunk, she thinks, that must be the yellow one. 

She places a hand on the wife’s shoulder and guides the couple to elevator as she tells them, “Your son was brought in earlier tonight. He had a mild concussion and a few broken ribs, but he’s stable. He’s expected to make a full recovery.”

The woman sobs in relief, slumping in her husband's arms, who is starting to tear up himself. 

“He’s just upstairs on the second floor. Just grab one of the nurses from there to take you to his room.” 

“ _Thank you,_ ” the man says, tears falling down his cheeks as he takes her hand between his. 

She smiles, but the couple are already pulling away and moving determinedly towards the elevator. 

Claire watches them go, feeling exhaustion pull at her shoulders. She’s been up all day won’t be much help to anyone if she’s falling asleep during work. 

She grabs Malik by the arm as he strides past, tells him, “I’m gonna be in the break room for a bit. Wake me up if you need anything, alright?” 

He nods and tells her softly to get some rest. 

She drags her feet to the lounge, fumbling with the key card at her throat. It takes her a few tries to scan it against the reader by the door but she manages. 

As soon as Claire enters the room, she stumbles towards the couch and collapses into the soft cushion. 

She’s already asleep when her head hits the pillow. 

 

It’s night when she wakes up, and there’s finally a moment of quiet.

Most of the patients are asleep, and they’ll be alerted if anything goes wrong. But until they can get more staff on hand, they can’t switch shifts with anyone which means working overnight. 

It’s a small sacrifice to make for what could mean the difference between life and death for someone. 

Claire takes the opportunity to stretch her arms and go to the kitchenette, grabbing a floral printed styrofoam cup and shoving it under the coffee machine. 

She stifles a yawn, watching as the steaming coffee falls into the cup. 

Malik and Evie join her in the room, talking quietly amongst each other, and Claire places more coffee grinds into the machines for them before joining them at the couch. 

“They found the pilot of the Blue Lion, the alien princess? Brought her in a few hours ago. She had water in her lungs and I had to treat her for pulmonary,” Malik tells Claire, his eyes fixed on the radio sitting on the table. 

The team must have been ordered on standby in case something happened but for now, the line is absolutely silent. Not a good sign from a rescue team. 

Tracing a finger around the rim of her coffee mug, Evie quietly muses, “I thought there were five lions, right? Where’s the last pilot?” 

They think for a moment. 

“If it's true what they said, that he got ejected out of his lion when it crashed, then-” Malik stops abruptly, unwilling to voice his doubts. 

From the radio, there is only damning silence. 

Evie clears her throat uncomfortably. “Do you think- that he didn’t make it…?” 

“I'm just saying that we haven't heard anything. It's been almost a day since he crashed. They should have found him by now, and even if they do, there’s no guarantee he’ll still be alive.” 

The nurses fall silent at that thought. 

One of earth's heroes, dead for the cause. 

It holds a heavy weight. It’s not that people hadn’t died during the war, the memorial at the Garrison was a testament to that fact, but the Paladins were seen as somewhat untouchable. 

It’s a jarring reminder that even with the lions, they were just as human as everyone else.

There’s a sudden crack in the room, and Evie curses as she jumps, causing her coffee to spill over her fingers. 

She shakes them out as she stands to get napkins, but her eyes follow Malik when he grabs the radio. 

They sit in attention, anticipating the final call. 

This is it. They must have found the Black Paladin by now. They brace themselves for the news, the grief heavy and palpable in their hearts. 

“- _he… he’s alive…_ ” they hear, only a slight whisper in bewilderment, but booming through the radio speakers. “ _He’s alive_!” 

Evie looks up, confused. “What?”

“- _Keith, Keith, can you hear me? Answer me, please_!”

There’s no reply, and they all recognize Iverson’s voice when he commands, “ _We need to get him to medical, now._ ”

“ _Sir_.” It’s Isaac, one of the nurses who had volunteered for the makeshift immediate response teams. “ _He’s having difficult breathing, and he’s lost a lot of blood- Sir, he’s crashing_!”

The nurses listen in horror as they hear a heartbreaking sob, and the same voice from before begging, “ _Keith_ , please, _you can’t leave me-_ “

“ _Get a bed ready! We’re bringing him in_!” It’s directed at the nurses this time, but it’s hard to focus on the order through the sounds of someone crying. 

Evie stands up, wipes a tired hand across her face. Her eyes are red. “Come on, let’s go set up.”

Malik allows himself to be pulled to his feet and follows her out of the room, Claire right behind them. 

They’ve already set aside a cot for the Black paladin, but it had been shoved to the side after going unused for the day. They wheel it out and hang up the IV’s, standing wait by the door and armed with gauze and painkillers and antibiotics, anything they have to keep him alive just a while longer. 

It’s a tense wait, and every single sound sends them instinctively reaching down for the cot. 

Abruptly, the quiet of the med ward is ruined as the doors are forced open, and the retrieval team bursts in. 

They’re- covered in blood. 

A silver haired man is guided through the doors. He has a bloody form cradled in his arms, his knuckles white from the strength of his hold. There’s tears in his eyes as he pushes forward, his voice broken when he pleads, “Help him, _please_ -“

He doesn’t have to ask. 

They step forward to take the injured paladin, but the officer seems reluctant to let go. His hand tightens as if he knows that if he lets go, it will be the last time he’ll ever see him. 

Iverson places a hand over his shoulder, and gives a quiet, “Shiro…” 

They’re at a standstill. 

Malik steps forward, his eyes understanding and voice gentle when he says, “We’ll keep him safe,” and wraps an arm around the injured form. 

The officer- it must be Shirogane, slowly loosens his grip. His fingers curl as the paladin is taken completely from his hold and gently placed on the stretcher. 

Before they can wheel him out, Shirogane surges forward, and wraps a hand around the limp, bloodied one on the bed. He brings it to his mouth, presses a kiss reverently on the bruised knuckles with both his lips and his tears. 

“Please, Keith, don’t do this. You have to pull through for me-“

“Sir-“

Someone steps forward. 

Iverson places a hand in the crook of the officer’s elbow and pulls him away. Immediately, the nurses wheel the injured paladin away and Shirogane makes the most heartbroken sob they’ve ever heard. 

The sight behind them is him, on his knees with his hands buried in his white hair, sobbing. 

It’s the last they see of him before the door swings shut and they take the paladin out of his sight.


	2. Chapter 2

He's bleeding badly.

Graham holds the gauze against the black paladin’s stomach as they rush to the other room, giving them the full report on what had happened. “20 year-old male, crash injuries, blood loss and internal bleeding. His abdomen got punctured with shrapnel when he got ejected from his lion and he nicked his leg.”

Claire curses when she sees the bleeding cut on his thigh and orders, “Get a tourniquet on his right leg. We need to get him into surgery but it looks like the wound is infected. Get him on antibiotics.”

Moving back from the IV bags, Evie worriedly looked up at the news. She was still just an assistant, and injuries of this caliber were beyond what she had trained for. 

“We’ve got it covered,” Malik assures her, and then looked towards Graham, “Do they still need you out there?”

He shook his head in response, rolling his sleeves up and already stepping forward.

“What do you need me to do?”

 

….

 

When Claire comes out, Shirogane and Iverson are waiting in the uncomfortable blue chairs that they have at the entrance for visitors. 

Iverson remains seated but the silver haired officer pushes himself immediately to his feet when he see her coming. The blood on his clothes is still there, telling her that he hasn’t left since they brought the paladin in.

“What is it? Is he okay?”

She steps forward, placing a hand at the crook of his arm and guides him down until he’s sitting. 

He offers no resistance, staring at her with a mix of worry and impending dread. 

“He’s stable,” she begins, her voice soft. “For now. He was injured badly in the crash, and the wound on his stomach was infected when you brought him in. He was really weak, so there's nothing I can say with certainty about his recovery.”

Shirogane sucks in a sharp breath, his face pale as he collapses against the back of the chair. 

“He’s doing okay for now, but he wasn’t even able to breathe on his own… I’d encourage you to prepare for the possibility that he won’t-“

“No… he- he can’t…” Shirogane shook his head, in denial or in disbelief. “He’s going to make it. Please, tell me he’s going to…”

“I’m sorry. There’s no guarantee but we _are_ trying our best-“

Shirogane sobs before she can even finish, putting a hand over his mouth and collapsing in on himself with the force of his despair. Iverson looks at him with a look saturated with sympathy, wraps an arm around his shoulder and pulls him into a one side hug. 

_This_ is the hardest part about their job.

No matter how many times they go through this, it never seems to get any easier. 

Watching the scene with a pained gaze, Claire places a hand over Shirogane's and tells him softly, “I’m so sorry. It’s up to him now. All you can do for him is to be there with him. Maybe he’ll heal faster with a friendly face nearby.”

They don't respond to her at first, but the Commander does shoot her a look of gratefulness for her efforts. 

Finally, Shirogane pulls back. He nods, his gaze determined as he stands up and wipes a hand roughly over his eyes. “Take me to him” is said, an order that loses its intensity by the croak in his voice, by the way his hands are fisted by his side. 

He doesn't look at her when she brings him up, nor when she eases open the door. 

He has eyes only for the prone figure on the bed, broken and vulnerable, and the sight is all it takes for him to tear up again. Hesitantly, he steps forward, his fingers brushing the limp hand on the bed. 

Finally finding the courage, he clasps it gently, like the paladin is something fragile that might break with the slightest touch. He presses their conjoined hands against his forehead and sobs. 

As someone in the medical field, this isn't the first time she's witnessing this scene play out, but no matter how many times she sees it, the heartbreak is always palpable in the air, the quiet cries of the family as they plead for the recovery of their loved ones ringing against the walls.

Her heart heavy, Claire turns and leaves the two behind.

Shirogane's quiet sobs follow her even after she's long gone. 

 

 

When she comes back downstairs, Malik senses her mood instantly. They’ve known each other well enough after years of working together that he doesn't hesitate in making her take a break, calling Evie to fill in for her.

Nodding tiredly, she slumps down against the chairs in the waiting room and buries her hand in her hair. 

It seems that even after the war is over, everything is still the same. She had been hoping that the defeat of the Galra would have brought some boost of morale but in here, there’s no escaping the true effects of the war, the sacrifices that had to be made.

She can’t deny that seeing the paladins today had shaken her up a great deal, especially Cadet Kogane. 

Although now, it’s obvious that he’s no longer a cadet. 

The scars littering his body had surprised her, not just from the sheer amount but also from the viciousness of his injuries, ones that he should not have been able to survive. 

She’s not a particularly religious person but at this moment, she prays for Cadet Kogane, for _Keith_. 

It looks like he could use all the help he can get. 

 

 

A day passes and the green paladin is the first to wake up. 

She’s disoriented at first, unable to recognize her surroundings, but once they bring her mother in, she calms significantly.

Evie explains to her what had happened after the fight with the Galra, about how their lions crashed and they were brought in to the infirmary to be treated. 

The paladin, Pidge, gasps as the memories of the event come flooding back.

“Where’s the rest of my team?” She demands, but the fear in her eyes betrays her worry. 

“They’re all safe and recovering,” Evie tells her, “You’re the first one to wake up.”

Pidge is quiet for a moment, her mom holding her hand as she thinks. Finally, she says softly, “When can I see them? I-I know you said they’re fine but- I just have to see, you know?”

Evie nods understandingly. “We need to keep you here for a bit longer, just to make sure you’re doing alright, but afterwards, you can visit once you’re feeling up to it.”

There’s a knock from outside and Pidge looks up to see Captain Shirogane leaning against the opened doorway of the hospital room. She smiles widely when she recognizes him, hugging him tightly and laughing when he says, “Hey, I heard you were awake. It’s good to see you’re doing better.”

Evie tries to check the paladin’s vitals quickly so that she can give them some privacy. Faintly, she hears Pidge ask the captain about what happened after the lions fell, and if the Galra are truly gone.

“There was a few Galra ships left,” he says as he settles down on the chair by Pidge’s bedside. “But they left pretty quickly when the rest of the coalition showed up.”

She perks up at that, looking so excited that she probably would have been bouncing on her feet had she been standing, “The coalition? Is Matt here?”

Shirogane chuckles, “Not yet, but he got in contact with your dad a few hours ago. He’s on his way right now.”

The two talk excitedly for a few more minutes, until Pidge notices the dark smudges under the captain’s eyes. “Are you okay?” She asks him in concern, frowning. 

His smile falters slightly, but the moment passes and he gives her a reassuring look when he tells her, “I’m fine. Things have just been busy lately. And anyways, you should be more focused on your own health. There’s a lot of people waiting to meet you, you know.”

Evie quickly finishes up her work and with a swift, “Ring if you need anything!” leaves the room to give them some privacy.

Briefly, she thinks back to the green paladin’s question, thinks about how she saw Shirogane spend all of last night at the Black Paladin’s bedside, and realizes that the bags under his eyes aren’t from ‘being busy’ after all.

It’s not any of her business either way, she decides, and goes back downstairs to help with the patients. But despite her adamance to forget about it, the thought doesn’t quite leave her alone.

She notices that the captain is in Keith’s room more often than not, always by his side. One day during break, she asks Claire and Malik if they’ve noticed it to.

They have. 

Claire sips at her coffee as she begins to tell them about what had happened when she was doing rounds after lights out the day before.

She had been organizing the patient charts when she heard hushed words from down the hall and assumed that the black paladin had finally woke up. When she hurried down to check, however, she saw him still asleep on the bed, just like she had left him a few hours ago.

Holding onto Keith’s hand was Shirogane, seated on the chair by his side as he continued to say, “-Iverson told me today that he’d like it if I did the speech to welcome the coalition to Earth. Something inspiring to show them hope, you know?”

He fell quiet for a moment, finally whispering after a long moment, “I don’t know if I can, honestly. Everything is- It’s hard without you here. Iverson says I don’t have to do it but I think it’ll be a good distraction for me. What do you think?”

The reply he got back was silence, interpreted only by the steady beeping of the heart monitor.

Shirogane sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

He pushed himself to his feet, groaning as his back cracked. “I’ll be by tomorrow, then. You can help me come up with something cheesy and inspiring. You always said I was good at that.”

Claire had just moved away from the door to check on the patient from the adjacent room when she caught sight of Shirogane bending down and pressing a gentle kiss on the Black paladin’s forehead, being careful to avoid the bandages and tender bruised skin. 

“Get better soon,” she had heard him whisper brokenly, “I miss you _so much_.” 

“I just left after that,” Claire admits, looking down at her abandoned coffee. “I did my rounds in the other hall first and then came back once he left.”

All three of them fall quiet.

Evie breaks the contemplative silence when she finally whispers,“I really hope he wakes up soon.”

They don’t say anything to that, but it’s true.

They all do.

 

 

Pidge is well enough to walk around by the time the pink (?) paladin wakes up. The princess is almost healed physically, her perplexing alien physiology mending her wounds at a faster rate than they normally would have healed. She’s still exhausted though, she answers when Malik asks her how she’s feeling.

“Quintessence,” The orange haired man by her bedside chirps, going into a long and winding explanation of ‘overexposure’ and ‘quintessence exhaustion’.

Malik nods absently at that to appease the man as he checks the paladin’s IV, expertly ignoring the strange blonde girl that stares at his every move with eyes that are wide with fascination. 

“What’s that?” She asks every time he turns a dial or flips a switch. He answers her with disinterested phrases that hardly explain anything, but it doesn’t seem like she minds. 

“Fascinating,” she whispers as she watches the liquid drip from the bag.

She turns away from the various medical machines only when another patient and Captain Shirogane show up outside the room with a large bouquet of flowers. Malik recognizes the green paladin by the gravity defying quality of her hair. She’s in a wheelchair so he resists the urge to scold her for being out of bed but he does mutter, “Don’t stay too long” to her as he leaves. 

The room erupts into noise immediately as the paladins catch up, and Malik lets out a sigh. He has a feeling the infirmary is just going to get louder as more of the paladins wake up.

 

He’s right. 

They know the blue paladin is awake by the intense cheering and joyful shouting coming from his room.

Malik refuses to deal with it, so they play a quick game of rock-paper-scissors for it and eventually end up sending Claire in when she makes the unfortunate choice of choosing rock. 

Later, when they’re all in the break room, Claire swears she saw one of the paladin’s nephews climb the medical cabinet and sit on top of it while his sister was hanging from the curtains. 

After that, neither of them dare to enter the room during visiting hours (which, considering the paladins are now heroes of Earth and haven’t seen their families in years, is almost all day).

They finally send Evie in to check up on him, claiming that they’re busy with the sudden onslaught of cadets with a case of strep throat. She kicks out his family before she enters, tells them that they can come back later once she’s finished. 

The patient’s sister has to bribe her kids in order to get them to leave but they do eventually, taking a blue helmet with them. 

The paladin watches mournfully as his helmet leaves the room, knowing it’ll come back covered in dinosaur stickers or doodles of hearts and flowers. 

Evie lets out a relieved breath as the noise slowly recedes, and quiet befalls the room. “How are you feeling?” She asks the paladin as she checks through his charts. 

He shifts in the bed. “Kind of tired,” he admits, no doubt worn out after the sudden bombardment of relatives, “And sore.”

Grimacing sympathetically, Evie tells him, “You broke your leg in the crash, but it was a clean break so it should heal with no problem. You were bruised up pretty badly too, so you’ll be a bit sore but you should be up and around in no time, Mr. McClain.”

“Oh, uh, you can just call me Lance. No one's called me that in, like, years,” he grins at her, “No honorifics in space.”

They both fall silent as she changes the IV bag for a new one.

“How are the others?” He finally asks. 

“They’re all doing really well actually. Your friend -Pidge, was it?- was asking about you all. She woke up quite a while ago. The princess woke only a day after her and seems to be recovering remarkably well. The yellow paladin still has a concussion so we’ve confined him to bed rest for now but other than that he has a quick recovery in sight.”

The young man sighs in relief sinking back against the plush pillows. 

“That’s good… And Keith?” 

Evie pauses at the question, her eyes not quite meeting Lance’s. They haven’t yet told any of the paladins how bad their leader’s condition really is, not wanting to hinder their recovery, but it doesn’t seem fair to hide it any longer. 

“He’s… recovering,” she finally admits. “There was some internal bleeding that required immediate surgery. He should have been showing signs of improvement by now but his body was exhausted when he was brought in. He simply doesn’t have the energy to heal on his own. We’re helping him along for now and hoping for the best.”

Lance looks devastated at the news, his eyes tearing up slightly. “You mean he might not pull through…?” 

Evie bit her lip, “It’s- a possibility. But we’re doing all that we can for him.” 

There’s a long silence after that. Lance finally lets out a heavy exhale and, probably to distract himself, asks, “...How is Shiro holding up?”

The PA smiles faintly at the mention of the captain. He had only been in the infirmary for a few days but it was clear how much he cared for the Black paladin. 

“Hasn’t left Keith’s side since we brought him in. He’s not giving up on him.”

“Yeah, that sounds like them,” Lance mutters grimly. 

He falls quiet as Evie checks the IV bag, and then asks hesitantly, “Can I see him?”

Evie almost laughs as she remembers Pidge asking her the same question only a day ago. 

“Your leg will need to stay still for a few more days, but we’ll wheel you out as soon as you’re better. Keith’s lucky to have such supportive people with him. Sometimes, all it takes to get better is to have something to come back for.” 

Lance stills at that, remembering how often Shiro came back for Keith, to the point where even death couldn’t tear them apart. 

With that thought, he settles back against the bed, knowing with absolute certainty that Keith was going to be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

There are rock people in the lobby. 

It's not _that_ much of a surprise considering the sudden influx of alien species coming on to Earth from the Voltron Coalition, but to see them in the _infirmary_ is definitely unexpected.

This marked the first time that the medical staff was coming in to direct contact with aliens, as their defenses had kept the Galra out of the Garrison during the war, and none of them had dared venture outside in order to meet any unfriendly combatants. It’s obvious how out of depth they are by the way that Evie shrieks when she sees them come in, and how Malik had panicked and pulled all three of them behind the reception desk so that they could study the newcomers with a barrier that would serve as defense should they need it.

The bipedal aliens were currently standing around a fake potted plant that had been placed by the entrance, intently studying the wide leaves and the plastic bark, and occasionally talking to it.

They certainly didn’t look unfriendly. 

“Maybe they don't have plants where they come from,” Evie leans over to whisper to Malik, craning her head to see the aliens properly, “I mean, they do look like rocks.”

Claire sighs, and they all watch as she stands up from their hiding place behind the desk, marches over to the aliens, and asks with cloyed politeness, “Can I help you?”

One of the rock people -the one in the middle- jumps to her feet when she sees Claire coming, a wide smile on her face as she gives a nervous wave. “Hello, there!” She says, with a cheerful inflection that’s simply too ridiculous this early on in the day.

There’s two people flanking her. The one on her right looks wizened and kind, reminding Claire a bit of her grandmother. The other one seems young in comparison, and he glares at Claire distrustfully when she meets his gaze. 

Claire’s resist the urge to glare back, reminding herself that a misstep now could cause an intergalactic conflict that she doesn’t have the time to be responsible for.

She can feel Malik and Evie as they stare at the back of her head, and also when they turn their attention to the alien as she continues, “I’m here to see Paladin Hunk! I heard he was residing here for his recovery!”

“Oh,” Claire blinks in surprise, “Right.”

She doesn’t know if these aliens are trustworthy or if they have bad intentions (even if they don’t look the part), but she hesitates to send them up to an injured, defenceless patient that is sure to have many revengeful enemies. 

Thankfully, she’s saved from making a decision as the elevator doors part open to reveal Captain Shirogane, his hair matted to one side of his head, uniform rumpled, and eyes still bleary from sleep. It’s obvious he had spent another all-nighter by Keith’s bedside. It’s definitely not an unusual sight.

His eyes take in the lobby before he steps out, no doubt cataloguing any potential threats. When his eyes land on the trio of aliens, his face lights up with a genuine smile.

“Ah, Shay!”

The alien in the middle, Shay?, waves excitedly when she sees him. The glare that the was sent Claire’s way by the male alien softens, and the elderly one eagerly pulls Shirogane into a hug. She pats his cheeks in a very grandmother-ly fashion when they eventually pull away, causing him to chuckle. 

“Are you guys here to see Hunk? I think he just woke up a few minutes ago.”

Shay claps her hands together excitedly, “Oh, yes! I heard he was recovering in this facility and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see him again!”

Shirogane gives them that strained, tired smile, the same one that he’s been giving people all week and leads them up to the elevator to take them up to Hunk’s room. 

They all watch as the aliens plus Shirogane squeeze into the elevator, Shay’s excited chatter lingering in the lobby even after the doors slide close. 

Evie blinks as they disappear out of sight and leans against the edge of the desk, “Well, _that_ just happened…”

Behind her, Malik nods safely, “I did not expect my first contact with aliens to go like _that_.”

Sighing, Claire pulls herself to her feet and mutters, “I should go check on Hunk and make sure he’s actually up for visitors,” leaving her colleagues behind to gush about the alien encounter that had happened in their ’very own’ infirmary. 

She goes to the second floor and finds Hunk slightly overwhelmed with the surprise visitors but otherwise alright. Since she’s already upstairs, Claire decides to check on the other paladins, too.

The green and pink (?) paladins are both still asleep, but the blue paladin is wide awake and surrounded by his family. He waves at Claire from under a dog pile of kids when he see her, and she smiles back at him before finally moving on to check on the only paladin left.

Malik had told her yesterday that Keith was getting better, likely to wake up any day now, but it was hard to believe the good news. Claire had been too haunted by the sight of ruby blood staining the same face that she had treated numerous times before when he was kid and too terrified that something would go wrong. 

The door is closed when she gets to his room and she has to rest her hand on the handle for a long moment before she can gather the courage to enter. It’s the first time she’s seeing him since the surgery because Malik was always the one who had checked on Keith. He had taken the duty without any comments, knowing that Claire had treated Keith since he was little and that it must have been hard on her to see him like that. But she knows all too well that she can’t avoid this forever.

Finally, she takes in a deep breath and steps inside.

The room is shadowed and static, the curtains still drawn so that only a slither of the morning sun slipped in. Keith had always been a quiet storm but now, he’s absolutely still on the hospital bed, quiet in a way that is unsettling. The only thing that brings any noise in the room is the quiet beeping of the heart monitor.

Claire averts her eyes as she steps beside the bed, studying the monitors standing at the corner of the room. His vitals seem stronger, better than before, and his chances of recovery exponentially higher just as Malik said. She checks underneath his bandages but they seem fresh and his wounds have been recently cleaned, probably just changed an hour ago. 

As she turns to go, she catches sight of Shirogane’s civilian clothes on the table, folded neatly into a pile and placed next to a small stack of papers and documents. Claire gives a small smile, and brushes her hand against Keith's.

His finger twitches at the touch, curling slightly before his hand falls limp once more. 

She stares at the bruised hand, her hope for his recovery soaring with the extra signs of improvement. Shirogane most likely won't be back until the evening, busy with repairs and publicity talks, but Claire can't wait until he comes back so she can give him the good news. 

 

…

 

A cadet comes in to the infirmary later that day, a bloody gash over his palm and an embarrassed look on his face. Three other people are with him, all looking sheepish. They are the first people in a long time to come in with an injury from a stupid dare or a careless mistake typical to adolescents rather than something serious that had been caused by the war.

“We wanted to check out the Atlas,” one of them proudly says when Evie asks what had happened, eager to brag of their escapades with someone, “We were never allowed to go in before but when we heard Captain Shirogane turned it into a huge robot, we couldn't resist.”

Evie shakes her head in disbelief as she wraps the wound, unable to fathom how the cadets could be so roguishly unrepentant. She lectures them for a few minutes -just enough to claim that she fulfilled her duty- before asking, “So, how was it?”

The cadet with the injury perks up in his seat and grins, his embarrassment at getting hurt vanishing in the blink of an eye, “It was so awesome! I thought it would still be like a cool robot but it just looked like a really big ship. We only got to see a little bit of the hangar anyways before we had to leave.” 

“Some engineer guy came in to check on one of the fighters and we had to get out of there before we got caught,” one of girls elaborated. 

Evie huffs a small disbelieving laugh and sends them out fondly, reminding them again not to get in any trouble. She cleans up the area, throwing away the stained gauze and putting away the bandages.

On her way back to the lobby however, she runs into Captain Shirogane himself.

He's breathing heavily and his hair is windblown, like he just ran all the way to the infirmary.

“Can you put this in Keith’s room?” Shirogane asks, blushing and rubbing a hand on the back on his neck. The tips of his ears are red. “I’d do it myself but I have to be in a meeting in five minutes, and I’d really appreciate if you could, you know…”

‘This _is the famed pilot of the Atlas? The one who turned a whole ship into a robot? _’__

__Evie stares at the bouquet that’s suddenly thrust in her face, a vibrant thing with bright reds and vivid pinks, and slowly reaches out to grab it. The prosthetic hand whirs back to the captains side as soon as the bouquet is plucked out of its grasp._ _

__She stares at it, blinking slowly. “Yeah, I’ll- uh, yeah, no problem.”_ _

__“Okay,” Shirogane is still blushing when he leaves, “Thank you so much.”_ _

Evie watches him as he goes, and thinks, “ _oh my god, that is so sweet.”_

__

__

__…_ _

__

__Two days pass and Keith wakes up._ _

__It's in the middle of the day, which means Shirogane isn't there, which means that Keith had been alone when he had woken up. The last thing he must have remembered was probably the battle, and to come to in a foreign room with no one nearby must have been terrifying. It would explain why he had panicked so badly._ _

__None of them had expected to see him conscious quite this soon, so it had taken Malik by surprise when he had come up to check on the black paladin only to see him struggling to get out of bed, disorientated, confused, and in pain._ _

__“Shiro? Where is he?” he had asked frantically when he saw the medic, his voice slurred and eyes hazy. He tried to sit up, wincing as the action pulled at his stitches. When Malik reached out and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to placate him, Keith only panicked more, trying to buck off the oppressive touch._ _

__He was still very weak, however, and it barely took any strength at all to ease him onto his back. “Keith, listen to me. You’re at the Garrison. You were hurt but we’re helping you get better, alright?” Malik tells him, pitching his voice as calm and nonthreatening as possible._ _

__He can hear Evie come up behind him and Claire rushedly emptying a syringe into the IV bag._ _

Keith seems confused, unable to understand the words being said to him and frightened with the bright lights and unknown people, “No, Shiro, he’s _gone-_ ” 

__“Someone call the captain!”_ _

__Claire comes up on Keith’s other side, brushing her fingers across one hand to ground him until either the meds kick in or Shirogane shows up, “Keith, he’s on his way, alright? You’re okay, everything’s fine.”_ _

__Blinking up at her confusedly, Keith finally settles down slightly, his mind too foggy to think straight and body too tired to keep on struggling, although he’s still trembling, “...Claire?”_ _

__She blinks in shock, surprised that he had still remembered her after all this time, “Yeah, Keith, it’s me. We’re here to help you, alright?”_ _

He’s calmer for just a moment as he breathes out heavily, until tears gather at the corner of his eyes when he realizes, “We were… _the team_ -” He strains weakly against the hands holding him down. 

__“Where’s Shirogane?” Malik asks frantically, wondering why the meds were taking so long to kick in._ _

__Through her worry, Evie manages to reply, “He said he's on his way,” and as if on cue, Shirogane barrels into the room at that moment, panting from exertion and still in his uniform._ _

__“What’s wrong?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, darting forward as soon as he sees Keith’s form on the bed, awake and frightened. Claire steps aside as Shiro takes her place beside the bed, running a hand gently through Keith’s hair to calm him._ _

“ _Hey._ Hey, Keith, it’s me-” 

“ _Shiro_ -“ 

__The captain pulls him closer, brushing away the tears with the pad of his thumb, “I’m here, Keith, I’m here. You’re okay, everything’s fine.”_ _

Keith lets out a rough sob, trembling and shaking as he falls bonelessly into his friend’s hold, “Shiro, _the team-”_

“ _They’re okay,_ Keith, I _promise._ We’re all okay.” 

__A low whine escapes his throat, a testament to Keith's terror and confusion._ _

__Shirogane holds him tighter, and keeps holding him until Keith tires himself out, his eyebrows furrowed in pain and distress even in sleep and his hand still clutching the olive fabric of the captain’s uniform. The three of them are alone now, as Malik had taken Evie out of the room a while ago, sensing that the moment had been both private and emotionally draining._ _

__Once Keith fell into an uneasy sleep and his breaths had calmed into the occasional hiccup, Claire stepped forward to check on his stitches, making sure he hadn’t pulled or torn anything in his panic._ _

__Shirogane watches her as she works and asks worriedly, “What's wrong? Is he going to be okay?” His hand tightens over Keith’s shoulder, perhaps unconsciously, until his knuckles are bloodless and white._ _

__“It’s a good sign that he woke up,” Claire tells him reassuringly as she rewraps the bandage. Thankfully, he hadn’t torn anything but the wound does look inflamed and irritated. “He’ll probably be out of it the next couple of times he wakes up. It’s understandable, considering that he’s running a fever, plus his head injury and the drugs that we were giving him.”_ _

__The captain still looks unsure, brushing a hand through Keith’s bangs anxiously._ _

__“He’ll be okay.” Claire ducks her head so can meet the captain’s eyes and gives him a small, comforting smile, “I knew him from when he was a cadet. He’s strong; he’s going to make it.”_ _

__The worried look on Shirogane’s face doesn’t abate completely but the words seem to have calmed him somewhat. “Thank you,” he tells gratefully, “I don’t know what I’d do if he was-“ Shirogane cuts himself off and averts his eyes, unable to finish the thought._ _

__Claire understands and doesn’t push him to finish. “He’s not supposed to wake until night so he’ll be okay on his own for a few hours,” she says instead, writing down the time of Keith's dosage on the clipboard just to give herself something to do, “In case you need to get back to work.”_ _

__He immediately shakes his head, admitting, “I won’t be able to concentrate anyways. They’ll understand.”_ _

__Nodding, Claire gives him a small smile and says, “I’ll let Commander Iverson know.”_ _

__In the end, Shirogane decides to stay the night and the next day too, leaving only to grab some food, a stack of paperwork, and another change of clothes. It’s a good think that he had chosen to stay because the meds wear off faster than expected and Keith wakes up early in the evening, still frightened and confused. However, seeing Shirogane by his bedside seems to calm him down considerably._ _

__It takes a few more times until he can wake up without panicking, although his mind is still muddled and exhausted. Coincidentally, it's around the same time that Iverson regretfully calls the captain back to work. Shirogane would have refused to leave Keith’s side but the matter in hand had been about the Voltron Coalition and the logistics about various alien species staying on earth. As the only one who had such extensive contact with the members of the coalition, the duty rested solely on him._ _

__He had been understandably reluctant to leave Keith in case he woke up again in an empty room and hurt himself further in his panic and in response, Claire had suggested that another paladin could keep an eye him while Shiro was away. Since Pidge was well enough to be discharged, she had volunteered without hesitation._ _

__“I'll call you if anything happens,” Pidge promised to a hesitant Shiro._ _

__He had hovered in the doorway for a good five minutes, paperwork clutched tightly in one hand and an uncertain look on his face._ _

“ _Shiro.”_

__Shiro finally turned to go, raising his hands in the air as he said, “I’m going, I’m going.” He made it only a few feet before he paused outside of the room and stuck his head in long enough to ask, “Just- Keep him safe, okay?”_ _

__Pidge nodded sincerely, seating herself on the chair besides Keith’s bed and pulling out her laptop as Shiro left the room. She scrolled through the library, finally putting on an old movie that she and Matt used to watch when they were younger and settled down to wait._ _

__

__

* * *

_  
_

__

__

_Interlude_

__

__Keith woke an hour later, panic clouding his eyes. When he caught sight of his surroundings, he calmed down visibly, slumping against the sheets and closing his eyes tiredly. “Pidge…?”_ _

__“Hey, Keith,” Pidge sat up straighter, closing her laptop and putting it on the side table as she gave him a small smile._ _

__Scanning the room as he opened his eyes, Keith voiced hesitantly, “...where’s Shiro?”_ _

__“He had something he had to take care of. I’ve already been discharged so I said I’d watch you for him while he’s away.”_ _

__Keith blinked tiredly at that, playing with a loose string from the bedsheet absently while he took a minute to process her words. He looked confused, even as he finally asked after a long moment had passed, “Are you okay?” His words were still slurred somewhat from exhaustion._ _

__Pidge let out a startled laugh. “Me? It’s _you_ we should be worried about.”_ _

__She went quiet for a second before scooting her chair a bit closer and hesitantly reaching out to hold his hand. “You really scared us, you know,” she admitted, looking down at the bruised fingers in her grasp and tracing his knuckles with a finger, her voice no louder than a faint whisper._ _

__Keith looked down at the hand in her grasp and didn’t answer, but he did push himself up slightly, grunting as the action pulled at his stitches, and moved over until there was a small space between himself the railing. Pidge didn’t hesitate, immediately taking off her shoes and climbing into the vacated space on the mattress. She tucked herself against his side, burying her face in his shoulder._ _

__“I was so scared,” she whispered now that Keith had given her the opening to speak freely. Her hand clenched tightly against the hospital gown as she said, “I don’t ever want to lose you again. Not after I almost lost Matt.”_ _

__With shaking fingers, Keith hesitantly brushed against her hair, his voice rough when he rasped out a quiet, “I’m sorry.”_ _

__Pidge shook her head, “Don’t apologize.” She sat up long enough to take off her glasses and place them against the side table before she was burrowing back into the abandoned warmth. “Just don’t scare me again.”_ _

__She could hear him take a slow, measured breath, could feel the way the tension in his body fell away as he settled back in the covers, his hand still brushing her hair._ _

__“I won’t,” he promised concisely and quietly, but for her, it was enough._ _

__Curled up under the covers comfortably and still recovering, it didn’t take long at all before the two of them had fallen asleep to the sound of their teammate’s steady heartbeat._ _

__

* * *

_  
_

__

__

__

__There's a wolf on the bed._ _

__Evie can't suppress the frightened scream that escapes her when she catches sight of the terrifying glowing eyes. It bares its teeth and lets out a low, warning growl when he sees her but otherwise, doesn’t move from its spot atop a sleeping Keith’s bed._ _

__Her mind runs a mile per minute as she tries to figure out how this ferocious beast got inside the infirmary and how they’re going to get it out without hurting Keith or themselves. Pumped full of drugs as he is, he won’t even be able to make a run for it if they accidentally anger the animal._ _

__Malik comes up behind her, panting slightly, “What’s wrong? I heard you…” He trails off and his mouth falls open as he sees what had frightened his colleague so badly. “ _How did that-?”__ _

__They both stand frozen in the doorway, fearing that a single move could provoke the wolf into attacking. Instead of pouncing however, it simply bares its teeth in a wide yawn and settles down on top of Keith's legs for a nap._ _

__“ _Shoo_! Get out of here!”_ _

__The wolf lazily blinks one eye open and stares at them for a moment before turning its head, dismissive as if the two humans hadn't just been yelling at him. It noses at Keith’s arm, nuzzling gently under his hand so that Keith’s palm was resting on top of its head and fell still, presumably asleep._ _

__Evie watches the scene with increasing confusion, still standing frozen in case any noise roused the beast. “Should I get someone…?” Malik asks from behind her, his voice barely audible._ _

__“Shirogane?”_ _

__Malik nods, keeping his eyes trained on the wolf as he slowly backs away and down the hall._ _

__Later on, Shirogane casually tells them, “Oh, he’s Keith’s,” when he comes into the hospital room. His prosthetic hand is on the floor a few feet away and the wolf, Kosmo?, chews on it adamantly, “I told him to stay out of Keith’s room until he got a bit better so Kosmo wouldn’t hurt him accidentally. He must have teleported in when he heard that Keith woke up.”_ _

__“Keith's,” Evie says flatly, her eyebrows raised, at the same time that Malik repeats faintly, “Teleported…?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Shirogane says nonchalantly, bending down to rub Kosmo’s belly. The large wolf flops onto his back, his tongue lolling as he yips excitedly._ _

__They all hear the slight hitch in Keith's breath when he wakes up a moment later, voice rough with sleep as he says, “Shiro…?”_ _

Shirogane's face lights up with a smile when he hears the voice, standing beside the bed so fast that he forgets his prosthetic on the floor. The wolf has a similar reaction, perking up and vanishing - _vanishing_ \- in a small burst of blue. “Hey, Keith. Look, there’s someone here to see you,” Shirogane grins as the wolf teleports right onto Keith, putting his paws over his owner’s shoulders and excitedly wagging his tail. 

__“Kosmo?” Keith smiles tiredly, lifting a heavy hand and carding his fingers through his fur, “Hey, I missed you, bud.”_ _

__The wolf melts at the contact, arching into the touch and nuzzling closer to his owner. He whines lowly as he sniffs at the bandage on Keith’s cheek, causing Keith to chuckle and rub behind Kosmo’s ears. “I’m okay, I promise.”_ _

__Settling down on the bed, the captain watches the two fondly, giving a soft laugh when Keith shyly holds out his other hand. Shirogane takes his hand in his own and gives it a small squeeze, chuckling when Kosmo’s heavy weight flops down in between them._ _

__Malik places a hand on Evie’s shoulder and leads her of the room._ _

__“We can come back later,” he tells her once they’re out of earshot. “Let's give them some time alone.”_ _

__Evie nods._ _

Staying had felt too much like intruding anyways, and after all they’ve done for Earth, for the _universe_ , privacy is the absolute least thing that she can give them in return. 


	4. Chapter 4

“How are you feeling today?”

Keith slumps back against the pillows and grimaces at the question, picking at a loose thread on the infirmary issued sheets as he finally admits, “Okay, I guess. I’m still sore and tired.”

Humming sympathetically, Claire carefully wipes around the wound on his stomach with a wet cloth, dabbing an antibiotic cream on the site after she finishes, “That’s to be expected. The good news is that the infection is clearing up and you’re healing really well. Any numbness or tingling?”

Keith shakes his head, grunting as he sits up with her help so that she can wrap a clean bandage around his torso. 

“How is your leg doing?”

He moves said appendage experimentally to give her an answer to the question and chokes over the sudden pain that flares over his thigh at the movement. 

“Good,” he manages to gasp out amidst the fresh wave of tears that spring up in his eyes. 

Kosmo’s ears perk up at the sound of distress and he’s instantly by Keith’s side, whining and nudging underneath his hand as he offers comfort. 

“ _Keith_ ,” Claire shakes her head as she begins to unwrap the bandage on his thigh but it’s less of a reprimand and more a look of resigned fondness, “You haven’t changed at all, have you?”

Even as the words leave her mouth, she knows it’s the farthest thing from the truth. But despite the fact that they both know how incorrect she is, Keith gives her a small, boyish grin as he breathes through the pain, clenching his fingers around the sheets.

They both fall silent as Claire cleans the wound on his thigh, the only sound in the room the quiet beeping of the heart monitor and Kosmo’s soft whines as he tries to demand attention from his owner. Keith obliges, scratching behind the wolf’s ears to distract himself from the dull throbbing from his wounds.

“There you are,” Claire says when she finishes, breaking the silence as she stands up and discard the wrappers to the bandages and wrings out the wet cloth. 

Keith watches her silently for a minute, and it’s only when she’s turning to leave that he tells her quietly, “Claire, I… Thanks for- for everything.”

The nurses pauses in the doorway, turning back curiously. Keith avoids her eyes, one hand buried in Kosmo’s fur as he says, “I heard you helped my team after the battle, but I, uh… also never got a chance to thank you for-” He pauses abruptly but Claire can fill in the blanks for herself easily enough.

_For after Kerberos._

Next month would mark the five year anniversary of when they had received the news of pilot error during the Kerberos mission. All the staff had been fed an identical story -the same that had been given to the rest of the Garrison- despite the fact that there had been no video feeds of the crash and no evidence to support their claims.

The lack of evidence had been glaringly suspicious. 

Evidently, Keith had thought so too.

Three weeks later, and the young cadet had found himself sitting in the infirmary, getting his bruised and bloody knuckles wrapped. From his position against the doorframe, a Garrison officer kept a stern eye on Keith, making sure he wouldn’t slip past and cause more trouble. 

Claire had shot him a look, and the officer stepped just outside the door to give them a semblance of privacy. 

“What happened?” She had asked Keith once they were alone in the room, worriedly eyeing the bruise blossoming on his cheek and the way he had stiffly held his left arm. 

He hadn’t met her eye when he told her about his expulsion, one that he had gotten from asking too many questions, and not leaving ‘well enough alone’ even though he knew there was something wrong, _they all knew._

“They told me I have to leave tomorrow morning.”

Claire pulled back from where she had been dabbing cream onto his bruised cheek. “Where are you going?” She had asked him, dreading his answer. She had seen enough of his file to have a vague idea.

Keith picked at the bandages on his opposite hand and whispered, “...I don’t know.”

“Oh, Keith-“ 

He recoiled abruptly when she moved forward to cover his hand with her own, but his voice lacked harshness when he rasped, “I don’t need your pity.”

Claire had pulled back, watching as he angrily dragged a hand through his unruly hair.

He had been scared.

Barely eighteen years old, and there the Garrison was, removing him from the facility with no place to call his own, too old for the orphanage but too young to be out on his own. 

The Garrison hadn’t cared.

“Do you have anywhere to go?” Claire had asked him gently. 

Silence befell the room and the heaviness in the air was palpable. Keith wiped a heavy hand over his eyes and managed to choke out, “Shiro and I found a place but-“ He didn’t finish, dropping his head between the palms of his hands. 

“You’re more than welcome to stay with me until you find somewhere,” Claire told him even though she knew they wouldn’t let him stay on Garrison grounds. 

He had known it, too.

Keith pushed himself off the table, pulling on the sleeves of his jacket so that they covered his bandages hands. “I have to go,” he had muttered, the miserable look heavy in his eyes as he skirted past her.

Claire nodded and moved out of the way of the door. “Keith?” she called to him before he could leave, unable to watch him walk away without trying to do something to help. “Why don’t you come by to my place after my shift? I’ll help you get some things together before you have to leave.”

He’d probably need food, money, and a stable job to get his feet under him, and helping him out as much as she was able was the least she could do.

Keith paused in the doorway but didn’t turn back to look at her.

“...Thanks, Claire.”

There was finality in his tone, a thinly veiled warning or perhaps a cry for help. She never found out. Keith turned and walked through the door before she could reply, slipping out from the room between one breath and the next. 

And that was the last time she saw him. 

Until now, that is.

Looking back now, the moment that Voltron had touched down on Earth with Shirogane aboard made it clear that Keith had been right to have questioned the Garrison. But knowing he was correct about his assumptions made his expulsion all the more painful. 

“The Garrison was extremely lucky to have you,” Claire tells Keith, watching as he runs a hand through the wolf’s fur, “But it looks like you were made for greater things.”

He finally looks up at that, watching her through the curtain of his bangs. His gaze softens when Claire softly says, “I’m glad you found him.”

There’s no question about who ‘ _him_ ’ is.

Keith looks down abashedly and gives a small smile, but it’s a private thing. His next words are so quiet, barely above a whisper that they almost get lost in the space between them.

“So am I.”

She can tell he’s getting drowsy, so she leaves him with a soft smile and an admonishment not to over-exert himself. It’s around noon when she slips out to continue her rounds, but most of the patients are sleeping so she heads down to the break room instead to get a cup of coffee before Malik starts his shift. 

 

Evie is sitting on the battered couch when Claire enters, staring blankly at the opposite wall in a way that suggests she's contemplating deeply upon something. Her brows are furrowed and she has a frown on her face, so the issue is probably something controversial. Claire sends a quiet greeting to Evie as she steps towards the cupboards and refills the coffee machine, but otherwise stays silent as to not disturb her thinking.

The PA is silent for a moment more, before she gets up and joins her colleague by the counter. She’s quiet, simply standing there and fidgeting for a long moment.

Claire can feel the looks Evie sends her way, sees the way she bites her lips hesitantly. It’s the same way she acts when something is bothering her but she’s not sure whether she should bring it up or not. 

The only way to fix this is by waiting until Evie comes to a conclusion on her own. Claire continues to make her coffee, pointedly ignoring the PA until she finally blurts, 

“Are Keith and Cadet Griffin dating?”

Claire startles at the unexpected question, half of her creamer splashing on the counter as she gawks at her assistant, “Why would you say that?”

“...Well,” Evie says, and the hesitant look in back on her face. She wrings her hands together, realizes what she’s doing and stops, only to pick up a nearby napkin and twisting that instead. Finally, she admits, “I saw them together. Kissing.”

The napkin that Claire had been using to wipe up the spill slips from her grasp and flops down on the counter with a wet splash. “ _What?”_ She could have _sworn_ that Keith and the captain…

“Well, not like on the _mouth_ , but-” Evie is saying, before Claire interrupts her, 

“What, _exactly_ , happened?”

“Well, I went upstairs to get some extra bandages from the storage room and…”

 

_Evie paused on her way back from the room, listening curiously as she caught sight of a visitor that she hadn’t seen in Keith’s room before, and more incriminating, one that obviously wasn’t Shirogane or one of the paladins._

_By the orange uniform the visitor was wearing, he looked to be a cadet and after that, it wasn’t too hard to match his face to that of the MFE pilot’s, James Griffin._

_She couldn’t hear the hushed dialogue between them but she could see Keith’s apologetic look from where he had propped himself up against the headboard and Griffin’s disappointed but resigned frown in response. Keith began to voice the start of a sentence, but Griffin cut him off before he could continue. Evie’s eyes widened when she saw him lean over the edge of the bed and press a gentle kiss against Keith’s scarred cheek._

_Keith’s eyes softened in sympathy as Griffin abruptly muttered a few words under his breath and then got up to leave, embarrassed. As he turned to go however, Keith quickly reached out and wrapped a hand around his wrist, halting him in his tracks._

_Griffin turned back, surprised, and watched wide eyed as Keith gave a teasing remark, a friendly smile playing at his lips._

_The MFE pilot chuckled softly, and then said something else -it seemed like a goodbye- before turning to leave the room. There was a small smile on his face and the tail end of a slight blush dusting his cheeks._

_Before she could be spotted eavesdropping, Evie quickly turned and fled._

 

“-And that’s what happened.” 

Claire frowns, tossing the used napkin into the trash, “That... doesn’t exactly sound like they’re madly in love.”

“I guess…” Evie reluctantly admits. 

“And besides, wasn’t Griffin the one that Keith would always complain about when he showed up in the infirmary all bruised up?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“Look,” Claire interrupts her softly, handing Evie the extra cup of coffee she had made. “We should just leave it alone, alright? It’s not really any of our business, no matter how boring it gets in here.”

Evie takes the cup and sighs, “Yeah, you’re right.”

They drink their coffee in silence for a long, drawn out moment.

With the impending quiet that follows, Claire briefly regrets telling her colleague to drop the subject. Now that she thinks about it, she just forbade herself from telling Evie about how she had found Shirogane sprawled asleep on the hospital bed yesterday morning with Keith tucked under his arm, a half empty box of homemade cookies on the side table that had definitely _not_ been hospital issued. 

That also means that she can’t gossip to Evie without making herself a hypocrite, especially not about the time that she had overheard one of Lance’s nephews asking him, “Are Keith and that prince guy going to get married?” 

The way the blue paladin had sputtered and coughed out a choked, “ _What?_ No! No, there’s no way that mullet and- _no_!” had truly been entertaining. Sighing, Claire leans against the counters, sips at her coffee, and sulks. 

Evie would have definitely found that funny. 

It really is a shame she can’t tell.

 

 

A floor above, Malik keeps an eye on the clock and starts his rounds as soon as the hour hand hits four, checking on all of the paladins as he makes his way down the hall. 

He makes the unfortunate choice of entering the blue paladin’s room without fully surveying its occupants and immediately gets bombarded by the overexcited blonde haired alien holding a medical instrument in her hand and demanding to know its purpose. 

The third occupant of the room stands hastily, prying the girl off. “Romelle, remember when we talked about personal space?” Apologetically, Hunk turns to him afterwards and gives him a sheepish smile. “Uh, sorry about that. She just discovered coffee this morning.”

Allura snickers from the bed, snorting in a manner that was very much unlike a princess. Hunk gives her an amused glance in response, her behavior making it quite clear that the caffeine high was something that affected all Altean’s, exempting not even royalty. 

Malik gave the three of them a distinctly unimpressed glare, one that caused the Voltron team to whittle slightly in shame. 

“Uh, I didn’t have any,” Hunk says as if that will smooth over the matter, raising his hands in the air pleadingly, “And Allura’s practically healed.”

Through his disapproval, the doctor grudgingly admits that Allura was doing remarkably well considering the circumstances. In fact, the princess looks healthy enough to be discharged, and Malik informs them as such after he manages to wrestle the blonde one into a chair. 

“We can get the paperwork done and have you out of here by evening,” he tells her, inconspicuously shuffling closer to the door when he sees Romelle open her mouth to bombard him with a tirade of questions. 

Hunk turns to give the princess an enthusiastic high five, and Malik takes the chance to slip out as the two girls also turn to each other at the good news. 

He can hear their chatter even after he leaves the room. The thought brings him no relief, as he knows something worse awaits him in the next room. 

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Malik knocks on the door, waits for a reply, and slowly eases open the door. He’s infinitely grateful when no children leap out at him, letting out a relieved breath at the fact that the room is almost empty of occupants except for the patient’s father. 

The elder man was slumped in his chair, arms crossed in sleep and snoring softly. His son was awake however, absentmindedly flicking through his tablet with a look of thorough boredom on his face.

Lance smiles widely as he sees the medic walk in, waving his hand in excitement. After lying in bed for hours with nothing but the internet for company, this was no doubt the most eventful thing that happened to him all day. 

What follows is an exchange of hushed conversation about the recovery of his teammates as Malik flashes a flashlight in his eyes and checks his breathing. 

There's a long pause before Lance voices, hesitantly as if afraid of the answer, “...and Keith?”

He receives a reassuring smile in response, and the way the paladin slumps in relief is an embodiment of the way the heavy burden on his shoulders is lifted. 

“He's not one hundred percent,” Malik comments as he moves his stethoscope higher up on the patient’s back, “-Deep breath. But he's getting there.”

Malik removes his stethoscope and takes an extra moment to carefully drape it around his neck, giving the smallest semblance of privacy as he pretends not to see the way Lance wipes at his eyes. 

“I'm really glad he's okay,” he sniffles, “I have no idea what we'd do if we lost him, especially after what happened to Shiro.”

Confused, Malik simply sets a hand on his shoulder comfortingly and inwardly wonders about the second part of his statement. It's not surprising to hear that the former Garrison students had gone through some difficult situations, but it does pipe his curiosity. 

A matter for another time, he decides, watching in amusement as the pilot of the red lion turns, gives him an alarmed look, and says hastily, “Uh, don't tell Keith I said that.”

“Won't leave the room,” Malik promises.

Satisfied with the answer, Lance leans back and asks about how everyone was holding up with the new species of aliens coming in from the coalition.

The following conversation flows easily, and the paladin looks disappointed when Malik checks the IV and then gets up to leave. He cheers up almost immediately after he gets reminded that the princess is getting discharged and had promised to be by to visit soon. 

Three down, one paladin left to go. 

This late in the afternoon, Malik was expecting to see the room devoid of any visitors, and the Black paladin asleep. He was sorely surprised when he approached the room and heard someone talking quietly, the bare skeletons of speech wafting out into the hallway. 

Through the small gap of the ajar door, he could see two forms squeezed into the small bed. Keith was leaning his head against Shirogane’s shoulder, their hands clasped together on top of the bedsheet. 

“I feel like we just- left things hanging. I never even got to properly let go…” the captain was saying, his gaze distant and regretful. 

“I’m sorry. I know what Adam meant to you,” Keith says quietly, letting his head fall against Shirogane’s shoulder tiredly and squeezing his hand. 

“Seeing his name on that wall, it just made me realize that-” Shirogane stops abruptly, trying to figure out how to phrase the words he felt so deeply. Keith watches him patiently, but his gaze turns soft when Shirogane brings their conjoined hands up to his lips, carefully avoiding the IV as he presses a soft kiss to the knuckles. 

“You have no idea how terrified I was…” he finally whispers, rubbing a thumb reverently over Keith’s hand. “When I saw the lions falling, when we couldn’t find you in Black, and then when you wouldn’t wake up-“

Keith is quiet, offering silent support through the way he squeezes his hand. 

“I’m so, so sorry,” Shiro sobs, tears gathering in his eyes. He turns his head and presses their foreheads together, “I-I never fully realized what you meant to me until I almost lost you, but I promise, I’m _never_ letting you go again.”

Feeling like he was intruding on a private moment, Malik quietly backs out from the room. He’d come back in a few minutes, but for now, he would give them some time together.

After all that they had been through, they more than deserved it. 

 

 

The next time Claire sees Shirogane, he’s walking through the hospital doors like any other day. 

This time, however, he has two Galra in tow. 

When he catches sight of her dubious glare, Shirogane raises a hand placating and says, “They're with us,” in a voice that exudes confidence. 

It’s his _captain_ voice. 

Claire bites her lip and her glare lessens in intensity, but her thoughts are still riddled with doubts. Earth’s history with the Galra is wrought with slavery and years of oppression, and the people unfortunate enough to meet a Galran soldier were met with nothing but cruelty. Anyone who dared to rebel was killed instantly, and to have betrayal within their ranks by own of their own would result in a fate worse than death. 

It’s not unbelievable to imagine that some Galran would have been opposed to the idea of galactic oppression, but it is difficult to imagine anyone brave enough to betray a species known for cruelty. 

Although, Claire thinks, the two Galra flanking Shirogane look ferocious and intimidating enough to cower most people without raising a finger. And Claire also knows that Shirogane would never ever let anyone that could hurt Keith be by his bedside when he was in such a vulnerable state. 

Eventually, it’s her trust in Shirogane that has her nodding her acceptance, although the hard stare the female galra sends her way speeds things along. Shirogane sends her an obliging smile like her permission was the only thing stopping him, and strides purposely farther into the lobby. 

The three of them cut an imposing figure even as they stuff themselves into the elevator and the closing doors slowly hide them from sight. 

As Claire turns back to her desktop to enter a patient's info into the computer, she catches sight of three glowing purple eyes. She pushes away from the desk and lets out an undignified shriek and the small army of purple and black clad figures stare at her blankly. 

The don’t seem to have any ill intent. In fact, they just seem curious. 

She stares at them and they stare back. Distantly, she hears the elevator doors open and Shirogane coming up behind her. Probably aware that he was one of the leaders of the coalition, the whole horde of aliens turn immediately to him. 

He blinks at the attention, “...Oh, are you all here to see Keith?”

One of the alien nods. 

Shirogane blinks some more, the beginnings of an amused smile on his face. “Right. Come on.”

He walks into the elevator, holding the door open for the group, who seem to be hesitant to enter the small room. 

Finally, a single tailed galra is brave enough to follow and the rest follow soon after. Most of them have to duck down to fit inside, and the space is so limited that they’re squished from almost front to back. 

The unblinking gaze of dozens of purple eyes stays imprinted in her mind long after the galra are hidden from sight by the closing elevator doors.

Distinctly, she recalls the hospital policy, something along the lines of allowing only a certain number of visitors in a patient's room. That rule had been tossed out the window, especially considering that at that very moment, room 205 was stuffed full with Lance’s extended family. 

Claire was still recovering from the shock of seeing the black clad aliens when Malik comes down, a confused tilt to his mouth. 

He jabs a thumb to the stairs and raises a questioning eyebrow. His bafflement at seeing a dozen dark and terrifying figures lining Keith’s bed like a horde of vigilant bodyguards is clear as day on Malik’s face. In response, Claire shrugs helplessly and says, “I don’t even know.”

With another raised eyebrows, a slightly disbelieving “...right”, and a sigh, Malik sits himself down by her side and opens up the patient's chart to update the information like it’s any other day,

Claire stares at him incredulously. 

“...That’s it?”

“What do you mean?”

Malik doesn’t look up from the computer, and by the way he’s already immersed in his work, it seems like he’s forgotten the events of the past ten minutes already. 

“Aren’t you worried?” Claire asks, baffled. They’ve just let a small army of Galra soldiers into the room of an injured patient. An injured, unarmed patient. Evidently, Malik doesn’t share her concerns because he finally turns away from his work and gives her a flat look that even after years of working with him, never lessens in its capacity to express true lack of impressedness. 

“The captain is up there with him,” Malik states slowly, already turning back to the monitor like that explains everything. It does, but then he goes on and adds, “And I think our race has grown past the need to discriminate individuals for the actions of a few.”

Silence falls between them, but his words ring in Claire’s ears, even long after the sun has set and the last of the visitors trickle out to head back home. Her shift is over, and it seems like a betrayal when she climbs the stairs to the patient's wards. _It's just to check on him_ , she tells herself. 

Keith's condition could have deteriorated and it wouldn't hurt to take a quick trip to his room. She tries to convince herself that it's genuine concern that pushes her, and not any mistrust that may have blossomed when an army of black clad Galra showed up in her hospital lobby. 

Soft conversation wafts through as soon as she steps outside of Keith's room, surprising her. She had seen the Captain and the Galra leave for the mess hall and had assumed the room would be devoid of visitors. 

It's the female Galra that she had seen flanking Shirogane earlier that day, but her face is changed. Her scowl is gone, the worried lines near her eyes and on her forehead smoothed away by pure and unadulterated _love_ as she sits perched upon the edge of the bed.

She has one of Keith's hands in her own, rubbing a thumb over his battered knuckles absently as she chokes out, “I heard you defeated Sendak and that everything was finally over… And then I saw your blade flickering. I was _terrified_ , and you wouldn't answer your comms. I didn't know what it meant, if you were alive or _dead.”_

Her other hand smooths away at his bangs, then down his cheek, until finally it rest on Keith's shoulder, like she's desperate for any touch that could convince herself that he's here and breathing. “Shiro got in touch with me later, told me about your condition. I came as soon as I could but I still couldn't help but think that I- I let you go all alone and-”

“It wasn't your fault,” Keith interrupts her, in a voice that's soft and full of respect. With the way he leans into her touch, it's clear that the two are close. 

She drops her hand and angles her face away. Her voice is rough with regrets when she whispers between them, “Keith, I never should have left you.”

A hand lands on her cheek, tilting her face so that she meets Keith’s gaze. “I don’t blame you,” he says gently, “And you shouldn’t either. It wasn’t your fault. Kolivan and the Blades… they needed you.”

“If I had just-”

“Those Blades would have died. And we still would have had to fight Sendak.”

The female Galra looks away at that, making it obvious she doesn’t share the sentiment. Keith senses it too. “I’m just glad you’re here. And that you’re okay.”

He’s pulled into a sudden, desperate hug but doesn’t hesitate to bury his face in her shoulder and hug back. “I love you so much, Keith. I- I don’t know what I would have done if… if I’d come back and you were-”

She’s too choked up to finish the thought, and Keith holds her just a bit tighter, “I love you too, Mom.”

At the unexpected words, Claire steps back in shock. After discovering the existence of extraterrestrial life out in space, the news is not as surprising as she would have assumed but it’s still hard to wrap her head around. They had only just discovered alien life recently, but for Keith to be half alien, his father must have known about other life outside of Earth at least two decades earlier. 

Now that she knows, however, a lot of things begin to make sense. It explains the irregularities in Keith’s medical history, as well as a few of his odd quirks she had noticed back in the Garrison. The way his eyes flashed violet in the sun was now recognizable as Galra purple. 

Muffled sobs drift out into the hallway, accompanied by Keith’s low voice, soothing and comforting. The emotions are familiar, in the way that Claire had been exposed to them many times during her career. It's something she irrevocably recognizes as _human_ \- something she never would have associated with the stone faced and cruel Galra that had conquered their planet.

It's comforting in its familiarity, spelled out in a universal intimacy between loved ones that's easy for her to understand. 

As she slips downstairs and back to her post, she notices the group of Galra settled around in the lounge and marveling curiously at the array of Earth cuisine that had been placed before them. Shirogane sits across from them, explaining each of the dishes with enthusiasm and watching excitedly as one by one, the soldiers volunteer themselves for a taste test. 

One of them catches her looking and tilts his head curiously.

There's only slight hesitation before Claire finds herself sending the Galra a small smile. The wave that she receives back is awkward and uncoordinated, clearly an unfamiliar earth custom, but it warms her heart regardless.

The Galra’s attention is stolen away when one the black clad figures pops open a can of soda and promptly shrieks when the fizz bubbles out over the edge. 

As Claire settles down in front of the computer, she realizes the bundle of anxiety over having Galra soldiers in her hospital fading away. It's clear that Earth had not been the only planet hurt by the war, and that their suffering was short lived in comparison to the people who had been fighting years before anyone on Earth even thought that extraterrestrial life could be possible.

If the Galra could find the strength and courage to fight back against oppressive ways of their counterparts, then Earth could could afford to put aside their differences and come together to rebuild.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched a cliche natural disaster movie so you can blame that for the cheesy 'rebuilding together' line


End file.
